The Wall Street Journal: Still Cheerleading for Saakashvili

The Wall Street Journal‘s European edition does its best to whitewash Saakashvili’s record as he leaves office:

As a charismatic leader of a nation with shallow democratic traditions, Mr. Saakashvili could be heavy-handed. He overreacted to antigovernment protests in 2007, shutting down a national television channel. He survived a war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia in 2008, but the fight probably cost Georgia any chance of reclaiming two breakaway regions.

That is the extent of the criticism of Saakashvili’s record in the editorial. Notably absent from the description of Saakashvili’s “overreaction” was the way that the protesters were treated. A report on the 2007 crackdown from Der Spiegel gives a more complete picture of what happened:

On Wednesday the protests descended into violent clashes, as police began to push demonstrators back and to beat some with truncheons. The riot police then fired tear gas at the demonstrators from pickup trucks as they retreated down the capital’s main avenue. More than 500 people were injured, with 100 still in hospital on Thursday, according to the Georgian Health Ministry. The Imedi television station, which had carried statements by opposition leaders and broadcast footage of the police’s heavy-handed tactics, was taken off the air Wednesday night after riot police entered its headquarters.

In what universe those people are living? After his extremely well televised cowardice and tie-eating nervous breakdown what charisma are they talking about? The boy is a psychopath, but then again–the standards of WSJ are not very high.

Andrew for some reason the tie eating incident didn’t seem to make much of an impression in the US.

As I already stated, conspicuous flattery (aka “sweet tongue”), for some reason, is a very high-valued commodity in the US political elite–a very Asiatic quality (Russia is well acquainted with that). Enough to listen to the lofty verbosity and dramatic references in the speeches. Obviously, Alexis De Tocqueville wrote about this phenomenon as early as 1837, when wrote about “grandiose opinion of their country and themselves” in the chapter “American Sensitivity to Offense at Home and Abroad” in his masterpiece. And the credit must go to Mishiko, who, as a typical sleazebag of Caucasus variety, cleverly milked the hell out of this prevailing sentiment in the White House, pushing every single button. Under those circumstances, who cared what Saak was doing, he could have screwed the goat on TV and it wouldn’t make any impression here, as long as he was showering his D.C. patrons with praises. And that’s what he did. One interesting fact: he was making his addresses with the EU Flag in the background and Georgia is not EU member. That should have given some clues about him. I will never believe that United States does not have a very professional profilers in its special services.

Frustrating to see everyone judge Saakashvili’s legacy using the same standards as they would for western presidents. If you knew anything about Georgia you would understand that it’s impossible to govern without using heavy handed tactics. The country is filled with secessionists, KGB loyalists, and uneducated people who are easily swayed by Russian propaganda. This isn’t the US, this is a state where the survival and self-determination of the nation are seriously thrown into question by a giant hostile neighbor at all times.